ABSTRACT
Years ago, I was in a taxi somewhere in the British Isles. Being asked, by way of small talk, what I did for a living, I said I was a historian of ancient mathematics. When my driver stopped the car, he got a small notebook out of the glove compartment. As it turned out, he liked to keep a record of the weirdest jobs his customers did, and I (he assured me) could qualify for the top ten.
